Page 21 of Tall, Royal Hater
Mariyah
“So, what’s the deal with you and Shehryar?” Pierre asked, his voice prickling over the shell of my ear.
I rolled my eyes as I pinched the glass straw between my fingers, lifting the chunky tumbler of soft drink in my hand closer to my lips. “There’s no deal.”
Pierre rolled his eyes in return, adjusting his stance. “Look, Mar. We’re already at the stage of nicknames and you eating off my plate in our relationship, so I think we can stop with the lies.”
I grinned with the straw between my teeth. “I think this relationship is moving too quickly for me. Next, you’re gonna try to get me to meet your parents.”
He shrugged. “Well, you’ve already met my uncle. So, what’s the harm in meeting my parents too?”
I chuckled and shoved him playfully in the chest.
Our “relationship” had begun in the two hours we’d been in the huge, high-ceilinged private dining hall of Chaukham Palace, sometime after Esmeralda properly introduced me to Kai and his family. I met his parents, Queen Leila and King Rami, his grandmother, Dowager Queen Giselle (or “Gigi” as she blackmailed me into calling her), the adorably awkward nineteen-year-old Adam, and the prettier artist brother, Fay. After which she introduced me to some of the staff too.
Pierre had basically proposed to me with a plate of sweet and savoury tarts when I’d been talking to his uncle, Nur. We’d spent the rest of the time mingling around the hall and flirting in the exaggerated way two people who were comfortable with each other did.
“But don’t think you can avoid my question.” He poked my hollowed cheek as I sucked in a mouthful of fizzy apple liquid. “What in Neves was that ‘You’re in my way’ in the corridor?”
I nearly snorted out the drink at Pierre’s imitation of Shehryar’s voice. “Isn’t it obvious? The dickhead has issues.”
His mouth twitched. “And do these issues have anything to do with the fact that every time I look up, Shehryar is glaring at us?”
I held his gaze for a still beat. His smirk widened, and my head flew around.
“Don’t make it so obvious.”
Fuck being discreet.
I found Shehryar within three seconds of turning my body. Not because I’d been tracking his presence in the hall, but it was kind of hard to miss the piercing green eyes of a bull-sized man drilling into me from across the space.
My pulse jolted hard into the rhythm of angry hatred and…no, nothing else. The twist low inside me was part of that feeling, not something separate.
His thick brows weren’t quite pinched, but the irritation in the harsh lines of his face was enough to pass his expression off as a scowl. He wasn’t even ashamed that he’d been caught, which pissed me off even more. He kept staring at me through narrow, frosty orbs, his posture wide and confident where he was standing like some all-seeing guard by the wall.
The temptation to snarl at him was unreal, but I refused to seem like the crazy one. So, I grinned and lifted my free hand, waving my fingers at him.
His response was to shift his stare to Pierre for a few beats of the loud music playing.
And then he blinked. But it wasn’t just a blink.
It was a flicker of his lashes as he tried to hide that he was rolling his eyes.
And I knew that look all too well.
It was judgement. Disapproval. And it was a lick of fury right through me.
Who the fuck did he think he was to disapprove of what I was doing?Fuck him, bastard!
Teeth locked, I swung back around, fumes coming out of my nose and ears.
“Woah,” Pierre uttered. “You good, Mar?”
“Feed me something from your plate,” I growled through a forced toothy grin. “Then wipe my lips with your finger after.Now, please.” He started turning to look in the dickhead’s direction. “No. Don’t look at him, just do it.”
He eyed me warily but did as I’d told him, picking up a small piece of birthday cake between his finger and thumb. But halfway to my lips, he stopped. “Are you using me to encourage his jealousy?” I gaped, entirely shocked and confused by the inferences in his question. “Look, I’m not saying I’ll be hurt if the answer is yes. I just wanna know so I can use my full potential to help you.”
A spluttering laugh came out of my mouth. It was high-pitched and bordering on hysterical. “Are you fucking mad? Was that supposed to be a joke?”
